The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1887-10-28

MT. My anu tne prleSt lOuReu IN tne
house of one of the petits habitants.
ln the evening, when they were alone,
the subject Of leprosy came up.
1--WE hear at the North" said Mr..
Ely, :'vague accounts of the Terre des
Lepreux, which is said to be some
where in Louisiana. What truth is
there in them''
"They are no doubt greatly exag.
gerated," said Father Nedaud. IA
spurious leprosy, elephatiasis, was 80
common among the negroes under the
Spanish domination that Governor
Miro founded hospital for lepers near
New Orleans, on the Bayou St. John.
1t ha, been gone these many years, and
Lepers' Land is now built up with
pretty houses. 1t was in the suburb
Treme."
"The disease is extinct, theni'
"There were some cases of genuine
Asiatic leprosy near Abbeville, in this
parish, about twenty years ago. An
old creole lady was the first. Her
father doubtless brought the terrible
taint in his blood from France. When
the white scales appeared in her face
her husband and family fed from her.
There was young girl, daughter of
M'sieu Dubois, who went to her and
nursed her alone during the three years
in which she fought with death. An.
other of Gods servants, m'sieu! Four
of this old woman's children, who de-
serted her, became lepers The young
girl who had nursed her, after she
died married young fermier, and
lived happily in her little cabin with
her husband and pretty baby. But
one day a shining white spot appeared
on her forehead. That was the end"
"She died3' @
'M'sieu, after four years. There is
no cure. 1t surely does not matter to
her now by what road God called her
to Him. There have been since then
no lepers in this parish except in these
tainted families The real Terre des
Lepreux in louisiana is now on the
lower Lafourohe, below Harang's Can
al. The bayou there is turbid and
FOUL it flows through malarious
swamps lower than itself. The creole
planters there are honest and temper
ate folk, but they are wretchedly poor.
They raise only rice, and live on it and
fish. The wet rice fields come up to
the very doors of their cabins. The
leprosy which certain families among
them have inherited is developed by
these conditions. Five years ago
Professor Joseph Jones, president Of
the State Board of Health, went him.
self with his son to explore the cyp-
ress swamps and lagoons of the lower
Lafourohe. M'sieu, it is the region of
the shadow of death. He found many
poor lepers hiding there. They were
as dead men who walk and talk. They
could handle burning Goals; they felt
no longer cold nor heat nor pain.
Their bodies were as corpses. One
man lived alone in hut, thatched with
palmettoes, which he had built for
himself, eating only the rice which he
had planted. No man nor woman had
come near him for years. The Terre
dss Lepreux extends, as far as Cheniere
Caminada, where the bayou emptiss
into the Gulf"
Mr.. Ely remained silent, though q
torrent of angry queries rushed to his
lips. Why was nothing done 10 miti-
gate the horrors of snch a life-in-deaihs
How could this priest, mar of God,
so calmly discuss these poor accursed
creatures from his safe, comfortable
point of vantage, jogging on his easy
going mare from one farm to auo,hers
He bade him presently a rather curt
goodnight, and went to the loft where
he was to sleep When he came down
in the morning, Pere Nedaud had
gone.
"M'sieu,' said his smiling host, "le
pere haf lef' you bon.matiu," waving
his hand to the black figure passing
southwark far across the prairie- :
"Where is his charge nowi'
"M'sieu-" Gaspard paused mom-
ent. "In hell, think. It is near
Cheniere Caminads, in la Terre des
Lepreux."
Mr.. Ely walked away from him, and
paced up and down the leyee for a
long time.
"God forgive mel" he muttered to
himself.-REBEcoA HARDING DAVIS,
in Harper's Magasine for November.